Car-fender.



N. J. SPENCER.

CAR FENDER. APPLICATION FILED MAR-.19, 1910.

Patented Aug. 22, 1911.

I, gin/00m 24% W M w 0/ NORMAN J. SPENCER, OF VANCOUVER, BRITISHCOLUMBIA, CANADA.

CAR-FENDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 19, 1910.

Patented Aug. 22, 1911 Serial No. 550,524.

f0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NORMAN .T. Senncnn, citizen of the Dominion ofCanada, residing at V ancouver, in the Province of British Columbia,Canada, have invented a new and useful Car-Fender, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to a car tender ha ving certain novel featuresdesigned to render it more ellectivc in saving lite and limb than suchdevices usually are. As connnonly constructed, although these fendersmay break the fall of a person falling into them and may prevent thebody from passing under the wheels, few, if any ot them, are adapted toretain the body on the :tender but will allow it to roll oil or a limbto hang, over the edge. It the car has not been stopped, this may resultin severe injury it the limb is dragged under the tender itself.

My improvements have, therefore, been directed. to the provision ot aretaining member to the tender which will normally lie level with thetender but will automatically be raised when any body strikes against orfalls into the fender. This raised 1e taining member will retain thebody on the fender and will. prevent any part of it from hanging overthe edges.

The invention is particularly described in the following specification,reference being made to the drawings by which it is accompanied, inwhich:

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through the tender, the dotand dash lines showing the position of the tender frame when theretaining; member is raised, and the dash and double dot lines theposition of the tender when folded up; Fig. 2 shows the latch by whichthe retaining member is held down when released by a body in the net ofthe -tender; Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the fender, parts being;broken away and the car end being removed to show the parts of themechanism of the tender, and Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail of one of therubber cushions or sleeves of the trout bar.

In Fig. l, of the drawings 2 represents the front end ot the car body towhich the tender is secured. The tender comprises two main parts, afixed end frame extending vertically across the whole width of the carand curved slightly backward at the two ends. This fixed frame iscomposed of upper and lower rails 3 and t secured by stanchions 5 to thecar 't'rame. Between these rails 3 and t beyond the width oi the cartruck are vertical members (3 ol': thin llat resilient material whichmay be curved slightly outward. as shown in Fig. 23, so as to oppose anelastic resistance to any object they may encounter. livotally mountedon the lower rail t ol this [ixed Frame is the horizontal frame ol thetender, which is designed to receive any obstruction that may be on thetrack and prevent it from passing under the car and which frame isdesigned to lold up against the trout end of; the car when not in use.The horizontal frame comprises two angular or kneelikc side t'rames 1.0,connected together l a main trout rail 11. a back rail l2 adjacent tothe rail -t on which the frame is mouuted,aud above these, near theunder side of the car body. by a latch rail '1?) by which the horizontalportion of the frame is maintained at the required height from the trackand which when released, will enable the horizontal frame to be foldedup against the l ronti end of the car. This latch rail 1?) is retained,when not in use, in a notch 17 in the front end of a bar l-l slidableoutwardly against the resistance of a spring It; into a keep or guide17. The bar l-lis retained in any desired position of lengthwiseadjustment bf a. spring pawl '18 which engages a notch ot the bar andthereby all'ords a means whereby the height of the trout rail of thetender from the track may be adjusted. 'lhis pawl. l8 may be releasedlrom engagement with the bar 'l-il, by a lever 40, extend ing" to anyconvenient position at: the outside of the car lrame. when it is desiredto :told the fender up out of use.

livotally mounted at 20. see Figs. '1 and Q, on the upright portion ofeach side frame '10 are short links 91. the free ends oi which carry across bar 92. Straps Q5 of flexible material pass from the top rail 23ot the fixed it'rame, around thebar 12 ot the movable trame ot' thetender and are connected to the pivotally supported cross bar 22. iimilarly from this same pivotally supported cross bar 22 straps Qt) a recarried forwardly and secured to the front rail 11 ol the movable. trameoi the tender. lhese straps 25 and 26 are I'Ilttlllttlllltltl at therequired distance apart by cross straps 27.:1nd are drawn sutlicientlytight so that the links 21 on which the bar 22 is carried will be somewhat above the horizontal, the normal pull of the straps beingcounterbalanced by springs 28 between the bar 22 and any part of therigid frame 10. Any body which may strike against the vertical straps 25or which may fall upon the horizontal straps 26 will thus pull thehorizontal bar 22 clownwardly as represented in 2, against theresistance of the springs 28. This is an essential feature of theinvention, as it effects the release of the latch members 37 and permitsthe elevation of the retaining member around the horizontal portion ofthe frame 10 of the fender, which is the'object of the invention. Theframe of this retaining member is made of a supplemental front rail 30which is connected to the side frames 10 by links 32 pivoted to eachside frame. Side rails 81 are connected to the supplemental front rail30 and have their ends forked to slide vertically on an angular brace 33of the movable frame of the fender. The supplemental front rail 30 andthe side rails '31 are connected by short straps 3st and 34* to the mainand cross straps 26 and 27 of the fender.

The retaining memberis maintained in its raised position, as shown bydot and dash lines in Fig. 1 by springs 35 and is held in its downwardposition by latches 37 pivoted at- 38 to the side frames 10 whichlatches under the action of springs 39, hold he forked end of the rail31 down. These latches are withdrawn from their position of engagementwith the ends of rail 31 by the downward movement of the rail 22 which,as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, engages the projecting ends of the latchmembers. Thus when the fender is in use the parts lie as shown by fulllines in Figs. 1 and 8, but when a body falls upon the fender or strikesagainst the straps 25 of it, the rail 22 is drawn down by the pull ofthe straps 25 or 26 and as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, releases thelatch members by which the retaining member is held down and thesupplemental front rail 30 is drawn up by the springs 35 to the positionindicated by dot and dash lines in Fig. 1. A body which has fallen intothe fender or which may have struck the front end of it will thus beretained on the horizontal portion of it and the retaining member willprevent a limb hanging over the edge being dragged under it. To lessenthe possibility of injury by the front rail 11, rollers, ferrules orsleeves 9 of rubber or the like material may occupy the spaces on therail between the straps 26. These rollers, see Fig. 4, should be formedwith deep circumferential grooves so as to better cushion a blow.

Having now particularly described my invention and the manner of itsuse, I hereby declare that What I claim as new and desire to beprotected in by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a car fender, a horizontal portion that includes a front andsides, a retaining member held around the front and sides of saidhorizontal portion, means whereby said retaining member may be foldeddown on said horizontal portion, a latch for normally holding saidretaining member in the folded down position, means for releasing thelatch when a body strikes against or falls into the fender, and meansfor raising said retaining member when said retaining member isreleased.

2. A car fender comprising a. fixed vertical portion extending acrossthe front of the car and including a lower rail and a horizontal portionhinged to said lower rail and susceptible of being folded up against thevertical portion or of being turned down to horizontally project forwardtherefrom, a retaining member comprising front and side rails mounted onthe frame of said horizontal portion of the fender so as to besusceptible of elevation therefrom, means for elevating the retainingmember, a latch nor mally holding it against elevation, a latchreleasingbar, and straps extending downward from the top rail of the verticalframe and backward from the front rail of the horizontal frame of thefender and connected to the latch-releasing bar.

3. A car fender comprising a fixed vertical frame extending across theend of the car and a horizontal frame hinged to the lower rail thereof,a railextending across and pivotally mounted on said fixed frame,flexible straps extending downward from the top rail of said fixed framearound a cross rail of the movable frame and secured to the pivotallymounted rail, similar straps from the front rail of the horizontal frameand secured to the same pivotally mounted rail, and means whereby themovement of said pivotally mounted rail will permit the elevation of aretaining member around the horizontal frame of the fender.

at. In a car fender including a horizontal portion, a retaining memberalong the front and sides of the horizontal portion and means forelevating said retaining member, cushion rollers on the front rail ofthe horizontal portion, said rollers being of resilient material andprovided with deep annular grooves.

In testimony whereof I have signed myv name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

NOR-MAN J. SPENCER.

Witnesses ROWLAND BRITTAIN, ALEXANDER SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

, Washington, D. 0.

